BYLINE: XOLANI MBANJWA

PRETORIA: Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has welcomed plans by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to penalise airlines, staff and Acsa, for not conforming to safety and security regulations at the country's airports. The measures could also result in airports losing their licences.

Managing director of Acsa Monhla Hlahla said the "punitive measures" being drafted by the CAA are in line with its work in light of the alarming spate of scares involving major airlines recently.

Hlahla was responding to questions regarding new "stringent regulations" being drafted by the CAA chief executive, Colin Jordaan, who was speaking at a two-day conference of aviation, airline, government authorities and policymakers from all over Africa in Pretoria yesterday.

Jordaan said: "The CAA will only apply stringent and punitive measures when there is evidence of consistent non-conformance to regulations and where there are high levels of safety and security risks. In the case of an airport, this may even involve the revoking of its licence".

Jordaan said the credibility of all African airports was at stake.

With the exception of Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia and South Africa, African airports do not meet standards set by the International Civil Aviation Authority Organisation.

In the past three months in South Africa six major airplane scares have rattled aviation officials, The first being Cape Town International Airport, which was shut down on November 2, 2007 for more than two hours due to an SAA airplane stuck in sand off the runway. …